Massacre accused seeks release on ground of mistaken identity

The names of the victims of the Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre are written on markers at the carnage site in Barangay Salman, Ampatuan town in Maguindanao. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—One of the accused in the Maguindanao massacre trial is asking a Quezon City judge to order his release from jail, claiming that another man bearing the same name as his who was recently arrested was the real suspect.

Dexson A. Saptula, who also goes by the alias Rene Matute,  appealed to the court to consider the other Dexson A. Saptula, with the alias Mohammad Adam, as the real accused.

In his pleading, Matute told Judge Jocelyn Solis Reyes of the Regional Trial Court’s Branch 221 that Adam was the one who should be charged in connection with the November 23, 2009 massacre of 58 people in Maguindanao and not him.

Matute’s lawyer, Laguindab Marohombsar, pointed out that “the identity of Matute was never stipulated to by the defense as the accused Dexson Saptula, for the simple reason that he is not the person being charged as Dexson Saptula.”

“After the termination of the pre-trial, Matute was never pointed to and identified by any of the prosecution witnesses as the accused Dexson Saptula,” the public defender said in a two-page motion.

The confusion about the two Saptulas emerged after the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao arrested Adam on Nov. 9 in the Datu Abdullah Sangki in Maguindanao.

Supt. Joe Wilson Denamarca said Adam was identified by two civilians as the person charged in the massacre the massacre.

But when the arrest warrant was returned to the court in mid-November following Adam’s arrest a week earlier, the judge learned that Matute was actually arrested on the same warrant in July 2012.

The court was informed of his arrest only last February. A spot report attached to the return of the warrant said a former employee of the Ampatuans had identified him as the accused Saptula but no affidavit of identification was attached to the report.

Matute, through his lawyer, argued that Adam’s arrest was the legitimate one. The return of Adam’s arrest warrant included a joint affidavit of identification made by Esmail Guiamad and Pendatun Ali, who personally knew Adam as Saptula.

Matute was already arraigned as Saptula on 58 counts of murder and is  detained at the Quezon City Jail Annex in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City.

Meanwhile, Adam is detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame pending the resolution of the issue of the two Saptulas.

“In fine, taking into account the foregoing, the court, in the interest of justice, should order the immediate release of Rene Matute,” Matute said.

The judge called for a hearing last week on which of the Saptulas was the real accused but has yet to make a ruling.